Stress on awareness to cure mental ailments

Rinpas director KK Sinha (right) at the seminar in Ranchi on Tuesday.
Picture by Hardeep Singh

Almost 90 per cent patients suffering from mental illnesses respond to treatment quickly and get relief within a very short period of time, claimed experts.

In fact, the main impediment in curing such patients is lack of awareness and apathy of their kin who often consider them as “lost cases” mainly owing to misconception.

Superintendent of Ranchi Institute of Neuro-Psychiatry and Allied Sciences (Rinpas) Dr A.K. Nag pointed out that only about 10 per cent of mentally ill patients needed treatment for a longer time.

He was speaking at a daylong seminar on “Impact of the mental and health and development models” at a Ranchi hotel on Tuesday.

Organised by Nav Bharat Jagriti Kendra (NBJK), an NGO that has been working in Bihar and Jharkhand, the seminar was attended by around 50 delegates, comprising government doctors and NGO representatives active in the health sector.

“Though a large number of people suffer from neuro-psychiatric disorders, most of them do not receive any treatment as their families and society tend to ignore them,” Nag said.

The Rinpas superintendent added that though some of the districts in Jharkhand had facilities for treating mental patients, the entire state should have the provisions.

Rinpas director Dr K.K. Sinha, speaking at the seminar, stressed on the need for changing the attitude of society towards mentally ill patients.

Since 2004, NBJK has been working for implementation of the mental health development (MHD) model developed by BasicNeeds, an UK-headquartered organisation, in Bihar and Jharkhand.

The model aims at capacity building, ensuring treatment for those suffering from mental illness and also making them self-reliant.